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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656675">when i'm with you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukkilovelovebot/pseuds/tsukkilovelovebot'>tsukkilovelovebot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Birthday, Established Relationship, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Post Timeskip, karasuno first years ot5, past tsukikage, tsukki likes emojis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:53:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,599</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukkilovelovebot/pseuds/tsukkilovelovebot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tsukishima, after saying goodbyes and telling them to meet up again soon, fished his phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through his messages and even the notifications he got on his social media handles. A lot of relatives, acquaintances, and fans have posted greetings on his feed but still, none of them came from the person he's been waiting for.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>TsukkiBdayWeek2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>when i'm with you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>it's tsukki's bday tomorrow and for his bday week, i dedicate this little fic to the krtsk nation !!  if u guys have twitter, check out #TsukkiBdayWeek2020 for more tsukki content !! &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Fires spread around the whole area, as dragons, fairies, and humans run for their lives. Kei does too, he runs and runs around the forest surrounded by trees and wild grasses, trying to find a place that isn’t trapped by flames.</p>
<p>He finds a nearby cave in the jungle, which is pretty far from the fires. These fires were caused by the other kingdom—their rival kingdom that wants revenge from the war, which is won by their domain. They burned some areas of their abundant forests in hopes of destroying the peace in Kei’s kingdom. Kei tries to look for his fellows, but it was no use. He doesn’t see anyone and his vision started to become blurry. He feels himself close to fainting right on the spot, so he ran faster towards the dark cave—wait, Kei hasn't seen this one before. Despite his uncertainty, he continued to run towards the end of what actually is a tunnel. He sees a light at the tunnel and he doesn’t know how his legs still manage to run at that pace.</p>
<p>Kei couldn’t believe it—he still dreams those fantasies despite being an adult, but he doesn’t complain though. He likes it—those dreams that make him feel like a child again who doesn’t have to worry about bills and taxes. It’s like an escape from the normalcy of his life as an employee in a museum and a pro volleyball player. In his opinion, it would rather be exciting to live in a world with dragons, witches, fairies or even dinosaurs because of the thrill, despite the constant running. Since he was a child, he found these things to be more electrifying than what he has right now. He likes fantasies, but he wouldn’t have his life any other way, especially because a certain black-haired man has made it more interesting nowadays.</p>
<p>Kei groans as he turns his phone off. It’s the 27th of September. It’s 7:00 am, and he has to wake up for work, despite it being Sunday. Today, his boss asked him to come to work for students from a famous university in Tokyo who plan to tour the museum as an immersion of some sort. Kei, being the most skilled in their department, as his boss said, was not allowed to say no, emphasizing that this is a great opportunity for him to “share his knowledge.”</p>
<p>He wakes up, takes a hot shower and gets himself ready and presentable for his guests who are probably the same age as him, since he graduated recently as well. He checks his phone, and is surprised to see dozens of messages piling in his inbox. </p>
<p>
  <em>Do these people even sleep? Why are they awake this early?</em>
</p>
<p>He scrolls through his messaging app, scanning the people who greeted him with a happy birthday. Yes, it’s his birthday today, and Kei doesn’t understand why people have to be so enthusiastic with their greetings, or even the day, in general. Hinata sent him a ton of emojis along with a message which can probably be found in a nursery rhyme book. It was a long one, and Kei feels his head hurt just by skimming through the text. Why do people treat this day special? It’s just his birthday, a normal day in which his mom pushed him out of her body. <em>It’s nothing special.</em> He sees a text from Koganegawa as well, bombarded with frog emojis and a long message but not as long as Hinata’s. He mentally sets himself a reminder to reply to these texts before he sleeps later in the evening. </p>
<p>He packs the things he needs, and heads outside his apartment. His family and friends (wow, he actually calls them friends now) have been informed by his schedule so he’s not expecting any surprises at any time of the day—not that he actually expects surprises even when he’s free during his birthday. </p>
<p>It was a normal day, somewhat breezy and the air was crisp. Kei walks to the museum wearing headphones banging his ears with a song from Taylor Swift’s newest album. Ever since he graduated college, he left home and rented an apartment nearer to his workplace. It was still in Sendai, but it gave him more time to sleep and made him independent. He misses home, despite being one or two bus rides away, but he doesn’t regret renting an apartment. It made him feel like an adult, though he has been acting like one since he was little.</p>
<p>He goes inside their department and places his bag on top of his table. A couple of boxes were there—gifts. Gifts from his office mates were placed neatly beside his desktop computer. He’s new to his job, but despite this, he’s famous around the workers, especially around women. Who could resist the charms of such a tall young man who dresses fashionably unlike other men who tends to be unhygienic? He doesn’t understand why they try to get his attention when he clearly stated in his introduction that he wasn’t interested in office romance. </p>
<p>His first day went like this: he comes in front of the meeting room, and introduces himself, a graduate of an archaeology course from a university in Sendai. He tried to bow lower, but he couldn’t. Probably because he had this thought going inside his head about “things like these wouldn’t matter” or something close to that. One of the women inside the room immediately asked him if he had a girlfriend which took him by surprise but he managed to make it look like he didn’t care—which didn’t take much effort given that he’s mastered the art of not giving a damn since he was born. He answered, “I don’t want to involve myself in any kind of office romance, thank you.” </p>
<p>But they didn’t stop. A lot of his co-workers still had a “work” crush on him—even boys as well. He didn’t mind as long as they didn't take up his personal space. </p>
<p>Usually, on Sundays, more or less the elders work at the museum. The ones who have been working for a long time are asked to do more extensive research on complicated pieces. </p>
<p>He puts all the gifts inside his bag (great, he accidentally brought a larger one—not that he actually expected gifts from the ladies and men but yes) and prepares for his work for the day.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Kei sighs—work was pretty hectic. He didn’t expect to be swamped with work after his assignment for the day. He bids his co-workers goodbye as he pushes the door only to be surprised by Kageyama, Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Yachi.</p>
<p>“What are you guys doing here? How did you even get this far?” His face scrunches in confusion. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s truly happy he got to see them before the day ends. Not that it’s actually that late in the day, he just thinks of any time later than 5:30pm as the end of the day. </p>
<p>“The guard outside was a fan of Kageyama so he let us in.” Yamaguchi scratches his head.</p>
<p>“Hey, Tsukishima! Let’s go get some dinner. We’ll fatten you up!” Hinata shouts and swings his arms around Kei’s left arm. He pulls him as they walk towards the exit.</p>
<p>The three laugh slightly as they follow the two.</p>
<p>“What do you want for dinner, Tsukishima-kun?” Yachi asks as they continue to walk outside. It was almost night time now—the sky is full of pink and orange as the sun slowly heads to the west.  </p>
<p>“Anything I can eat, I’m not a picky eater,” Kei says. </p>
<p>“Not picky eater? Are you sure about that? You don’t even eat anything, you just want strawberry shortcake,” Kageyama teases and smirks.</p>
<p>“Wow, the king knows that much about me? I’m so honored,” Kei snaps back.</p>
<p>“Now, now, you two are at it again with your flirting,” Yamaguchi exhales and shakes his head in feigned annoyance.</p>
<p>“What flirting?” Kageyama and Kei ask at the same time, faces evident with confusion (a fake one as well).</p>
<p>“Eh, since we’re second years, I’ve always thought that you guys were a thing. Not until you both had a relationship with other people at the same time,” Hinata laughs loudly.</p>
<p>It was actually funny. Members of the Karasuno team from the first years to the third years and even the coaches did think that Kei and Kageyama were secretly dating—their glances and small talks looked different from another perspective. It looked somewhat affectionate, despite their occasional banters and teasing here and there. Kei did think about it—about what he and Kageyama had. He thought that he and Kageyama had another thing going, but no one between them had the guts to confess, so they stayed that way. They stayed like that until time passed and they gradually lost their feelings because they didn’t try to be something more. Now, they’ve both moved on from their “almost” phase. They talked about it, during their reunion after most of them graduated college (since Kageyama and Hinata decided to enter the pro league and not go to college). They said some vulnerable things to each other that day—Kei thanked him for pushing him further to reach his potential and Kageyama thanked him for trusting him in order to reach that potential. Afterwards, they laughed it off and decided to put it as something of the past.</p>
<p>“Don’t try to fool us. I heard you guys talk about your almost relationship in that one reunion, y’know,” Yamaguchi says.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, let’s not talk about this anymore,” Kei slightly laughs, “and I want pasta.” </p>
<p>“Pasta and strawberry shortcake it is then.”</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>The five of them looked for the nearest pasta place that served cakes as well. They sat down, near the window, and stories came out freely in their area. Maybe the time they spent together did help with this. During their first year, all they had to talk about were tests and volleyball matches. As they spent more and more time together, eventually, they ended up being closer to each other than they thought they would. They became accustomed to Hinata’s antics and his constant races with Kageyama. Yamaguchi learned how to split the two when their petty fights become a little more serious. Yachi learned how to prepare lunches for athletes as well as help Yamaguchi with his captain duties while learning more about volleyball too. Kei learned how to tolerate the noise coming out of Hinata and the others, and now, he actually likes it. He likes them—he never thought that he would have such a strong friendship with other people besides Yamaguchi. Well, they did go through a lot with each other. They grew together. They saw how each of them grew to be the people they wanted to become before, and he’s more than happy to celebrate this day with them, despite missing a specific person and his family too. Of course, he wouldn’t admit this personally but Kei really loves the support and care he receives from them.</p>
<p>“Tsukki, did you like my message? I thought about it really hard!!” Hinata exclaimed, throwing his hands around. </p>
<p>“I haven’t read anything because work had to start early, but I’ll read them later. And speaking of, why did you put in a lot of emojis? What are you, a child?” Kei snickers as he takes a sip of warm milk from his mug. Hinata was about to throw a fit and yell, but was interrupted by Yamguchi.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, Hinata. Tsukki likes emojis, he just doesn’t want to admit it. I saw him putting a lot of heart emojis when he was texting Kuroo-san,” Yamaguchi says as he smirks. Kei didn’t think that the time when Yamaguchi is actually brave enough to tease him would come. His eyes grow wide at the sudden statement.</p>
<p>“I do not put heart emojis,” Kei says.</p>
<p>“So you don’t put heart emojis but other kinds of emojis instead?” Kageyama sneers.</p>
<p>
  <em>It’s my birthday today. Why are they ganging up on me like this?</em>
</p>
<p>“Don’t think that because it’s your birthday, you would get special treatment from us. We need news about you and… you know who,” Yachi’s the next one to have the chance to tease Kei.</p>
<p>Kei sighs in defeat, he can’t just say no to them, especially because they’re his most trusted group of friends.</p>
<p>“I think he’s busy with work… in Tokyo and all. JVA is a lot of work and I understand that—“</p>
<p>“Wait so he hasn’t texted you? Not even a single birthday greeting?” Their eyes widen from the revelation. Kuroo never forgets special days, and today was a special day, if not, the most special day for Kei.</p>
<p>“No, it’s okay. I understand that he has responsibilities as well. I don’t want to make him feel like he’s obligated to greet me or anything,” Kei heaves a deep breath and looks outside the window. He doesn’t like talking about his relationship, but he doesn’t have anyone else to talk about this with. </p>
<p>“Of course, he is. You’re in a relationship, Tsukishima-kun. You’re supposed to do that for each other—not because it’s an obligation, but because you love the person and you would do anything like that without any questions asked,” Yachi, with her pointing finger raised up, says worriedly. </p>
<p>“Yachi is right! Do you want me to ask Kenma about him?” Hinata’s face was full of concern.</p>
<p>“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that. Maybe I’ll ask him tomorrow about his work or something,” Kei sighs once again.</p>
<p>“What’s with the sudden gloomy atmosphere? For all we know, he might have a surprise for you later, or tomorrow, or when his work isn’t that much. Let’s just eat now, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says as he tried to lighten up the mood.</p>
<p>“Yeah, thanks, guys,” Kei smiled. He still couldn’t believe how easy it comes to share more about what he feels rather than what he thinks now unlike before when he had always bottled his feelings up until Yamaguchi urged him to tell. </p>
<p>Planned small talks became long hours of chatting and chatting until Hinata’s voice started cracking as he talked. The other four find it hilarious and predictable given the way Hinata liked to talk a lot loudly. They finished up their things and bid goodbye to each other. Hinata and Kageyama went to a hotel where the Jackals and Adlers have rented whilst Yachi and Yamaguchi went back to their apartments as well. </p>
<p>Tsukishima, after saying goodbyes and telling them to meet up again soon, fished his phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through his messages and even the notifications he got on his social media handles. A lot of relatives, acquaintances, and fans have posted greetings on his feed but still, none of them came from Kuroo. He was starting to get more worried and sad. What happened to the Kuroo he knew who never fails to be the first one to greet him good morning every day? What happened to the Kuroo he knew who likes messaging and calling a lot despite the amount of work he had for the day? He’s feeling sad, despite catching up with his best friends. </p>
<p>Kei sighs as he decides to walk back home. It was a little bit far compared to the distance from the museum to his apartment, which was better for him—he had more time to think about Kuroo and worry about him, but of course, he’s still not brave enough to contact him. Maybe because he didn’t want to seem needy and lacking attention when he knows that Kuroo has always been the giver in their relationship. <em>Maybe he needed time to work, that’s all. He’s a tough guy but if there’s too much work for him to handle, it would still be pretty hard for him to finish it quickly.</em></p>
<p>Those thoughts pooled in his mind, and he didn’t notice that he reached his apartment earlier than he expected. He sighs, turning the door knob and pushing the door open. </p>
<p>His eyes grew wide as he saw Kuroo sleeping on his chair, in his work clothes, with a party hat on his head. Balloons were everywhere and there was a big tarpaulin of him with a picture from when he played for the Sendai Frogs. “Happy Birthday, my lovely Kei” were printed beside his picture. </p>
<p>Kei was, of course, surprised, and he feels his heart beat louder, tears tempting to come out from his eyes. Kuroo was still sleeping and was snoring too, but Kei didn’t mind that. Kei sprinted to Kuroo, dropping his bag along with the gifts from his friends. He hugged him tightly and that caused Kuroo to suddenly wake up from his sleep.</p>
<p>“You’re here, Kei! Damn it, it was supposed to be just a short nap!” Kei heard Kuroo curse under his breath. Kei smiles.</p>
<p>“I thought you forgot,” Kei murmurs.</p>
<p>Kuroo pulls away from the hug and places both of his hands on Kei’s cheeks. His eyes were hazel and bags were under them. He must have overworked himself, Kei thinks. “How could I forget my favorite person’s birthday?” </p>
<p>“The lights were supposed to be off when you get here, and then when I was supposed to use this confetti thing and you would be surprised and I was supposed to kiss you on this x mark right here,” Kuroo, hands still on Kei’s cheeks, said with a pout that Kei has never been tired to see.</p>
<p>Kei puts a hand on top of Kuroo’s right hand. He takes his other hand away and intertwines them on the side. <em>Cute.</em> Kei thinks—knows that he will never get tired of wanting to see Kuroo blush. “It’s okay, Tetsurou. I was surprised nonetheless, so thank you for this.”</p>
<p>Kuroo smiles back. “I missed you so much, I had to finish work early so I could get here before 7 since Hinata messaged me that you guys were going for dinner.” Kuroo moves and sits on Kei’s sofa. Kei does as well. The living room was full of balloons and the walls were decorated with their pictures. There was a strawberry shortcake on the table, along with gifts and more desserts.</p>
<p>“Hinata knew about this?”</p>
<p>“I told him I was going to be swamped with work so I might only have time in the evening, so I asked him and your other friends to join you for dinner, but then he told me I didn’t need to ask since it was their plan all along.”</p>
<p>Kei huffs. He was being such a sap back there and they knew Kuroo’s plan all along. He plans to put angry emojis on their group chat later.</p>
<p>“Why, Kei?”</p>
<p>“I was being dramatic earlier and I was worried that you really forgot but then they knew all of this.”</p>
<p>“Now that you mentioned it,” Kei folds his arms in front, “It is physically evident that you have, once again, overworked yourself, Kuroo Tetsurou.” Kei tried to sound as angry as possible.</p>
<p>Kuroo hugged him despite his protest. “I’m okay, moonshine. I’m strong and healthy. A little more work can’t bring me down,” He said as he hugs Kei tighter, swinging both of their bodies side to side.</p>
<p>Kei pulls away from the hug and grips Kuroo’s shoulders tightly as he can—which is probably useless since Kuroo didn’t even flinch or made it seem like it hurt.</p>
<p>“I’m serious, Tetsu. I don’t want you getting sick or anything. If you’re swamped with work for the day, just send me some kind of emoji and that will probably do. That will inform me immediately. I’m thankful for all of this, really. But please take a rest too,” Kei says. He can be romantic if he wants to.</p>
<p>“But when I’m with you, Kei, I’m resting,” Kuroo holds both of his hands, “that’s why I finished work early just to be with you.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, Tetsu. You probably haven’t eaten dinner, so let’s eat.”</p>
<p>Kei ate another strawberry shortcake while Kuroo ate his bento box. He had not eaten dinner just yet because he instantly fell asleep after preparing and decorating the living room.</p>
<p>After finishing their late dinner, Kei started to become sleepy and tired too, he did a lot of work and had eaten a lot so he kept on yawning and yawning.</p>
<p>“Kei, you okay?”</p>
<p>“Yes, just pretty tired. Let’s go to sleep,” Kei pulls Kuroo into his bedroom.</p>
<p>Kuroo was pulled into the bed as Kei cuddled him closer. “Eh? We’re not going to do it today? But birthday sex was supposed to be checked for my to do list today," Kuroo pouts.</p>
<p>“Hmm. Not today. Tomorrow, or any time, just not today, babe,” Kei says in a hushed voice. He can feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Kuroo rises for a second to pull the sheets to cover their bodies. Both of them didn’t even bother to change their clothes. They probably smell but they don't care as long as they get to be together for longer. </p>
<p>Kuroo started to feel sleepy as well. He hugs Kei more tightly and Kei hums—both trying to savor the moment for as long as possible.</p>
<p>“Happy birthday, my Kei. I love you so much,” Kuroo whispers and kisses the top of Kei’s head. He exhales as he feels himself finally drift off to sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the past tskkg is just self-indulgence hehe :3 thank u for reading !!! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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